So i guess everyone is leaving..?

Any novices/members who read this, feel free to contact me as well.

I do my best to comment on every new person's post and acknowledge them, but I admit, sometimes people slip. I'm usually on everyday but I do have a full time job that may hinder me from getting back to you ASAP.

Like Ava, I'm just an apprentice but I am more than happy to help in any way I can!

Asakura Shoji wrote: The only person who has done any direct, unsolicited, "Hey, you're new!" outreach to me at all is Brick. (Thank you, Brick!)

No problem Shoji

I'm sad to hear that you, Nami, and other newcomers have felt a bit ignored. That's a failing on our part, and I'd like to apologies to all of you for that.

There's been an awful lot going on recently (I know everyone keeps saying that). But I'm not just talking about the arguments that you're hearing about. We've also been a little under staffed due to a couple of people stepping down from certain office's a while ago and those positions not yet being filled, our head of the welcoming party went on holiday for 2 weeks, and our membership application system was down.

As a result of all of this the Temple has kind of been running on a skeleton crew, with everyone taking on twice the workload they normally do, and so our communication and interaction with newcomers has been considerably worse than usual. I'm not trying to make excuses there, just trying to add a little context.

That being said, as Tella mentioned, the welcoming party have been issuing messages to all new accounts daily, and the IP team is still up and running.

I know Nami and I maybe didn't get off to the best of starts in our first meeting due to a little misunderstanding in one of the threads, but if you want to speak to someone Nami, then my pm box is open and I promise I will actually reply. A number of people have already reached out to me, and I've tried to help/inform as best I can

Same goes for you too Shoji, and anyone else (be they newcomer or seasoned veteran).

This isn't just a website, it's a church. It's a church that has forgotten it's a church and just focuses in the forum.

Frankly, I for one (a "newcomer" if you will) appreciate that the alleged ugliness of all this is being kept from my eyes. I don't see any value to following the rumor mill of it all, and don't expect any broad daylight fisticuffs would make any of us feel more secure or informed. If anything, it would be far more of a distraction than it already is. There have already been several related threads here in public view, each receiving 100s of posts, the bulk of which amount to speculation at best. Being remarkably interested in this Path, and mostly human, I find myself sifting through and digesting each and every unuseful post anyway, ignoring my outstanding need to set the forum aside and tackle Lesson 4 of the IP instead.

Someone created something remarkable here by founding a virtual Temple with membership in the thousands, and the value of that is clear in the passion and vested interest in the Temple's future, which this entire discussion exhibits.

He should be incredibly proud of all this. It is no small achievement. So his interest in ensuring a proper turnover in retirement is not just expected, but warranted.

In governance we do not declare a new nation-state to be viable until it has achieved three successful and peaceful transitions of power. Patience is paramount in such efforts. Airing out a full and transparent account is not.

There is not a single benefit to me, as a newcomer, to be privy to the higher level discussions in any of this, so long as at the end of it all I can login and get along with my training. If things deteriorated to the extent of a 404 Error when I hit my bookmark to come here one day, I would be sad, sure, but I could still get out of bed and function along my own Path anyway.

Even expending the energy in this post feels awkward for me. I have done so in a few other related threads before they were closed or moved out of view.

The bottom line point for me: thanks to EVERYONE involved, for it shows me that you all do care, but I won't stay up at night and speculate on what the rumors mean, for that is merely anticipating the unknowns of the future and what MIGHT be, and ignoring my opportunity in the eternal moment, NOW.

P.S. if you do not see a Lesson 4 post from me today, that is 100% on me, none of you, and I'd hope someone would notice and call me out.

Cheers

@Sam if you don't want to know what's going on, then you can just not read the thread that I and so many others are asking for. (Which steamboat28 created)

Nami wrote: This isn't just a website, it's a church. It's a church that has forgotten it's a church and just focuses in the forum.

Well said. It is in times such as this that we need to take the flame Jediism into ourselves and truly live it so that it may not die as the candle that is this site flickers.

Arisaig wrote:

Nami wrote: This isn't just a website, it's a church. It's a church that has forgotten it's a church and just focuses in the forum.

Well said. It is in times such as this that we need to take the flame Jediism into ourselves and truly live it so that it may not die as the candle that is this site flickers.

While that may be true, fanning the "this place might be dying" flames is helpful to no one.

Nami wrote:

Arisaig wrote:

Nami wrote: This isn't just a website, it's a church. It's a church that has forgotten it's a church and just focuses in the forum.

Well said. It is in times such as this that we need to take the flame Jediism into ourselves and truly live it so that it may not die as the candle that is this site flickers.

While that may be true, fanning the "this place might be dying" flames is helpful to no one.

Lol, again quite well said. When a candle becomes a stump, unable to wield a flame, one finds hope ina new candle. I hope that new candles, such as yourself, can help this place continue to burn bright.

Nami wrote: @Sam if you don't want to know what's going on, then you can just not read the thread that I and so many others are asking for. (Which steamboat28 created)

This is true. Yet, to the extent the entire situation offers incredible learning potential, I will keep myself apprised.

I almost see the whole situation as "Living Exercise of Jediism", almost a practical exercise in the training material, where I can learn quite readily from it perhaps more so than from simply burying my nose in the IP and ignoring what my eyes can see also.

Almost as Krishnamutri suggested we are prone to do when we rely on only one of our 5 (6) senses, and not all of them.

I created a thread reaching out to all members in need and didn't receive any requests save a bunch of banter about my choices.

How can I, an Apprentice, better reach out to you new members Nami? Asakura Shoji? Private PM's? Most times I rarely know who is new and when. "Member" and "Guest" status holds both new and old member's and I hate to pry/nag So just trying to figure out how I can be of better help if/when there is a next time.

Trisskar wrote: I created a thread reaching out to all members in need and didn't receive any requests save a bunch of banter about my choices.

How can I, an Apprentice, better reach out to you new members Nami? Asakura Shoji? Private PM's? Most times I rarely know who is new and when. "Member" and "Guest" status holds both new and old member's and I hate to pry/nag So just trying to figure out how I can be of better help if/when there is a next time.

Keep an eye on introductory posts.

Nami wrote:

Trisskar wrote: I created a thread reaching out to all members in need and didn't receive any requests save a bunch of banter about my choices.

How can I, an Apprentice, better reach out to you new members Nami? Asakura Shoji? Private PM's? Most times I rarely know who is new and when. "Member" and "Guest" status holds both new and old member's and I hate to pry/nag So just trying to figure out how I can be of better help if/when there is a next time.

Keep an eye on introductory posts.

Nami, thank you you're point is the best lesson I could have learned from all of this! I am sorry I should have been a little more open with you guys and shared what I knew was going on (not a whole lot) but what was in my field of vision in an objective way (admittedly hard). I admit that I have emotion invested here so things like this dig deep and hurt sometimes. But, this is no excuse to leave those most important in the dark. Br. John thank you because what you said is true and was a very objective statement to what is actually going on. Triss, you are a great example of whom a Jedi should be .

In the end Nami and everyone who wants to know what was happening, (from the info I have) there is a lot of uncertainty and clashes of ideals in this area right now, that caused a chasm between us and caused casualties we ignored. The thing is we are going to heal and figure out things will move from here. It will just take us some time, I urge you to continue your studies and be open and ask like you have been. You have helped us be accountable to ourselves and that is very very important.

Much Peace and Love in the Force,
Kobos

Ps. I like that pic Triss

Kobos wrote: Nami, thank you you're point is the best lesson I could have learned from all of this! I am sorry I should have been a little more open with you guys and shared what I knew was going on (not a whole lot) but what was in my field of vision in an objective way (admittedly hard). I admit that I have emotion invested here so things like this dig deep and hurt sometimes. But, this is no excuse to leave those most important in the dark. Br. John thank you because what you said is true and was a very objective statement to what is actually going on. Triss, you are a great example of whom a Jedi should be .

In the end Nami and everyone who wants to know what was happening, (from the info I have) there is a lot of uncertainty and clashes of ideals in this area right now, that caused a chasm between us and caused casualties we ignored. The thing is we are going to heal and figure out things will move from here. It will just take us some time, I urge you to continue your studies and be open and ask like you have been. You have helped us be accountable to ourselves and that is very very important.

Much Peace and Love in the Force,
Kobos

Ps. I like that pic Triss

Thanks for this. I was worried I came on too harsh.

Nami wrote:

Trisskar wrote: I created a thread reaching out to all members in need and didn't receive any requests save a bunch of banter about my choices.

How can I, an Apprentice, better reach out to you new members Nami? Asakura Shoji? Private PM's? Most times I rarely know who is new and when. "Member" and "Guest" status holds both new and old member's and I hate to pry/nag So just trying to figure out how I can be of better help if/when there is a next time.

Keep an eye on introductory posts.

Bingo. Look at who has replied to my intro post from 17 days ago: 6 people on the day I posted, 2 others in the past day. Special note no one from the IP team replied to the thread (noting that Brick replied via PM) except for Kobos, who posted today, and I'd think that they in particular might want to be looking at new members and following up to see if we wanted to do IPs or were confused about starting, etc.

To be clear, this is just an observation--I'm not having any kind of dramatic emotional response to any of this, because I'm not deeply emotionally invested here...yet. I'm not trying to file complaints. I just think that there has probably been more outreach in the past which may be why people are confused about why the more recent newbies are confused. Therefore, I'm just listing the facts of what happened to me as a relative newcomer so people can see where stuff broke down. I'm not sure how it's supposed to work--I only know my own experience.

To the point that some people have made as to what any new person really needs to know about the stuff happening above our pay grade: it is really helpful to know that there is a skeleton crew and that there are some distractions right now and that's why newcomer outreach is worse than usual (I mean, I hope this isn't usual ). That the issues may be administrative on paper, but when major changes are being made people are going to get stressed out (because we're human) so sorry if some of that is spilling over. Don't panic--this, too, shall pass. That it's worth it for us to keep doing my IP (I mean, right now some of us are legitimately unsure because some of the rumors make it sound like shutdown is imminent in 3, 2, 1...) and that guidance is there for us if we need it.

@Brick, I'm not sure the IP team is functioning beyond you, or if it is who's doing what may need to be updated on the IP part of the website? I got absolutely no reply to my initial "Hey, I've started my journal" PM, and I haven't sent out others to other people because I'm assuming you all are busy because of stuff going on. I just kind of put that all on hold for the moment until things blew over. I'm listening to/reading the materials and writing, but am not polishing and posting because I don't have the foggiest if we even have an entirely functional IP team right now or, as I said above, if it's worth it because will TOTJO continue to exist (and will the people who made me want to be here still be here?). I see Kit stepped down today and so I'm sure more reshuffling of duties will happen. It's cool, I'm waiting it out, but I'm just observing it doesn't necessarily appear to be functioning as normal.

Not having a working application for a while also left newcomers in limbo. Again, I understand stuff breaks and needs to be fixed, and that it appears to be working again now, but it's one more thing that leads to not-the-smoothest introduction for newcomers at the moment.

Perhaps people can see where this combination of things makes it looks a little more chaotic and unwelcoming for new people right now than it may have been when you joined, and why we might therefore kind of want to know what's going on.

Asakura Shoji wrote: Special note no one from the IP team replied to the thread (noting that Brick replied via PM) except for Kobos, who posted today,

The IP Team has a document that your name gets added to when you start a Journal. Due to the fact that a lot of people start, but only a few continue, people are probably holding back a bit to make sure that newcomers are here for the 'long haul' as it were. That's maybe why you haven't heard directly from anyone yet.

I've set up a new thread regarding newcomers so as to not to derail this one further which can be found here

Asakura Shoji wrote:

Nami wrote:

Trisskar wrote: I created a thread reaching out to all members in need and didn't receive any requests save a bunch of banter about my choices.

How can I, an Apprentice, better reach out to you new members Nami? Asakura Shoji? Private PM's? Most times I rarely know who is new and when. "Member" and "Guest" status holds both new and old member's and I hate to pry/nag So just trying to figure out how I can be of better help if/when there is a next time.

Keep an eye on introductory posts.

Bingo. Look at who has replied to my intro post from 17 days ago: 6 people on the day I posted, 2 others in the past day. Special note no one from the IP team replied to the thread (noting that Brick replied via PM) except for Kobos, who posted today, and I'd think that they in particular might want to be looking at new members and following up to see if we wanted to do IPs or were confused about starting, etc.

To be clear, this is just an observation--I'm not having any kind of dramatic emotional response to any of this, because I'm not deeply emotionally invested here...yet. I'm not trying to file complaints. I just think that there has probably been more outreach in the past which may be why people are confused about why the more recent newbies are confused. Therefore, I'm just listing the facts of what happened to me as a relative newcomer so people can see where stuff broke down. I'm not sure how it's supposed to work--I only know my own experience.

To the point that some people have made as to what any new person really needs to know about the stuff happening above our pay grade: it is really helpful to know that there is a skeleton crew and that there are some distractions right now and that's why newcomer outreach is worse than usual (I mean, I hope this isn't usual ). That the issues may be administrative on paper, but when major changes are being made people are going to get stressed out (because we're human) so sorry if some of that is spilling over. Don't panic--this, too, shall pass. That it's worth it for us to keep doing my IP (I mean, right now some of us are legitimately unsure because some of the rumors make it sound like shutdown is imminent in 3, 2, 1...) and that guidance is there for us if we need it.

@Brick, I'm not sure the IP team is functioning beyond you, or if it is who's doing what may need to be updated on the IP part of the website? I got absolutely no reply to my initial "Hey, I've started my journal" PM, and I haven't sent out others to other people because I'm assuming you all are busy because of stuff going on. I just kind of put that all on hold for the moment until things blew over. I'm listening to/reading the materials and writing, but am not polishing and posting because I don't have the foggiest if we even have an entirely functional IP team right now or, as I said above, if it's worth it because will TOTJO continue to exist (and will the people who made me want to be here still be here?). I see Kit stepped down today and so I'm sure more reshuffling of duties will happen. It's cool, I'm waiting it out, but I'm just observing it doesn't necessarily appear to be functioning as normal.

Not having a working application for a while also left newcomers in limbo. Again, I understand stuff breaks and needs to be fixed, and that it appears to be working again now, but it's one more thing that leads to not-the-smoothest introduction for newcomers at the moment.

Perhaps people can see where this combination of things makes it looks a little more chaotic and unwelcoming for new people right now than it may have been when you joined, and why we might therefore kind of want to know what's going on.

I got caught up in a lot of stuff and forgot my mission here, I'm sorry Asakura though we have had some good conversations in the chat, which I chill in when I can but I'm here for Pm's and stuff if you need; I still feel like I got some stuff to do still but, I failed in my duties and for that I must apologize to you all.

Seppuku is an option should you say the word (*removes button up kneels on floor, grabs scissors, students are staring at me so an answer soon would be good. )

Brick wrote:

Asakura Shoji wrote: Special note no one from the IP team replied to the thread (noting that Brick replied via PM) except for Kobos, who posted today,

The IP Team has a document that your name gets added to when you start a Journal. Due to the fact that a lot of people start, but only a few continue, people are probably holding back a bit to make sure that newcomers are here for the 'long haul' as it were. That's maybe why you haven't heard directly from anyone yet.

I've set up a new thread regarding newcomers so as to not to derail this one further which can be found here

It's possible more people would be here for the long haul if people made them feel more welcome, if more people took an interest in them.

Nami wrote:
It's possible more people would be here for the long haul if people made them feel more welcome, if more people took an interest in them.

I was thinking that as I typed it Nami :laugh:

I think there's probably a lot of truth in that.

That being said, in the time since you joined there have been over 150 accounts created, thats a lot of people for us to interact with :laugh:

Brick wrote:

Nami wrote:
It's possible more people would be here for the long haul if people made them feel more welcome, if more people took an interest in them.

I was thinking that as I typed it Nami :laugh:

I think there's probably a lot of truth in that.

That being said, in the time since you joined there have been over 150 accounts created, thats a lot of people for us to interact with :laugh:

That's true, but not everyone starts the IP or makes an introductory post.